The Division had had an object lesson in the peculiar strength of the German defensive system and the futility of “minor operations.” The losses from continuous shelling and from unproductive local assaults were heavy during the next ten days. There were deeds of valour, too, but the pill-box problem was no nearer solution. Gunner S. Hardcastle, “B” Battery, 211th Brigade, during a heavy bombardment of the battery position near Potijze on September 7, left cover to go a hundred yards through the shelled area to get water for a wounded comrade, and three days later, seeing an ammunition dump belonging to the battery on his left struck and set on fire by a hostile shell, he ran across and was first to begin the dangerous work of extinguishing the fire. But for his prompt action a large amount of ammunition would have been lost. During an attack on an enemy blockhouse on the night of the 11th-12th September, Private T. M. Howard, 9th Manchesters, volunteered to bring in an officer who lay wounded about forty yards from the blockhouse, from which severe machine-gun and rifle fire was maintained. Howard reached the officer and carried him 200 yards over exposed ground illuminated by enemy flares. On the following day Corporal W. White, 8th Manchesters, made five successive journeys through a continuous barrage, and each time brought in a wounded man. On the night of September 11 a covering party protecting workers in No Man’s Land found a wounded private of the Inniskilling Fusiliers, who had been lying out since August 11, unable to crawl into safety. In spite of thirty-one days exposure and starvation—except for the meagre rations found upon the bodies within reach—he recovered. [Sidenote: _Frezenberg Ridge_]